Administrators at Southern Oregon University were caught in a constitutionally compromising position after telling students they couldn’t pass out copies of the U.S. Constitution because they weren’t abiding by the terms of the campus free-speech zone.
Campus Reform captured the scene on video, revealing how four students passing out the documents were confronted by administrators and ordered to cease and desist. The reason? The school has a policy against distributions of literature in the public area, The Blaze reported.
“I would very much like you to leave, if you would please, because the students have the right to be able to come by here without you guys, you know, invading their space and asking them to do something,” said Tim Robitz, the director of university housing, in the video.
Another campus official, Allyson Beck, who serves as the family housing coordinator, said similarly.
“We have our free speech zone,” she said, the video revealed. “I understand that you may not like it, but that’s where it is.”
The students ultimately refused to leave, telling administrators their orders were against the very Constitution they were distributing.
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“Thank you for coming down here and explaining to us the unconstitutional policies here on campus, but we’re not going to move,” one of the students said to a school official, the video showed.
The students also tried telling the administrators that they were lawfully permitted to distribute the Constitution because they were on public property. In the end, the students won — police never showed and they never stopped handing out the copies, The Blaze reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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